Lyr ADD: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)

Subject: Puff the Magic Dragon
From:
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 07:26 AM

A few years ago, I remember there was some discussion of a "last" verse for Puff the Magic Dragon which mentioned the son of Jackie. Does anyone have that information?

---

More on "Puff" in The Story BEHIND the Song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From:
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 11:47 AM

George,

Sorry, never even heard of a fifth verse. Peter Yarrow wrote the song with Leonard Lipton. Peter, Paul and Mary should have a website (?) Also, the Library of Congress is also a good bet when all else fails.

Merv

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From:
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 11:48 AM

I checked that. The conversation, I think, was on rec.music.folk.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Wolfgang
Date: 04 Sep 99 - 11:54 AM

I'm sure I read this verse, may even have it at home. However, I'll be away for 2 weeks. But I'll trace this thread, just in case.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Colonel KC
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 10:57 AM

They made a cartoon/TV special about "Puff The magic Dragon" which turned the story into a psychologists mother lode about a kid who was afraid to go out into the world and needed his toy dragon as an emotional crutch. in it , I think they added some new words. You might try looking for it in a video library/store. Also I think I might have heard Peter Yarrow (with or without Paul & Mary) adding additional verses in recent concerts. But the official song did not last more than one generation.

Subject: Lyr Add: PUFF, THE HAPPY ENDING
From: folk1234
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 01:44 PM

Dear George:
I may have what you're looking for. I copied it from an old (1993, I think) issue of Sing Out. I think it was made up by the staff of a children's camp (The Flying G Ranch Staff). It goes like this:

PUFF, THE HAPPY ENDING
(The Flying G Ranch Staff)

One fine day it happened. Puff woke from a dream.
He thought he heard a familiar voice and Jackie's laugh, it seemed.
He looked around his cavern, and over near the door
Stood a little boy with a piece of string and a smile he'd seen before.

"Hello, my name is Billy, my dad told me your name.
He said I’d find you in the cave along the Cherry Lane.”
Puff, the magic dragon, smiled in his joy.
He'd never be alone again, for this was Jackie's little boy.

OH....

I found this in the Fall '93 (I think) issue of Sing Out.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Peter T.
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 02:51 PM

Yuuucccckkk.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: WyoWoman
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 03:34 PM

Then there's the "adult" version I do:

Puff the stupid dragon lived by the sea
And carried skin diseases, including leprosy

Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff
And brought him strings and sealing wax
And other worthless shit...


Puff the stupid dragon lived on a shelf
And nobody would play with him
So he played with him ....

Ohps. Sorry. Hope I haven't offended anyone and ruined my reputation as a serious respector of sweet songs. As you can see, it's a work in progress...

WW

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From:
Date: 06 Sep 99 - 03:53 PM

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From:
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 05:59 PM

For completists:

Origin of Puff The Magic Dragon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Quincy
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 06:11 PM

KT had a nice last verse she wrote near the end of this thread.

regards, Yvonne

Subject: Lyr Add: Puff the Magic Dragon - New Ending
From:
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 07:17 PM

Thanks Yvonne. Will bring it in here:

Subject: RE: Songs that work magic with little ones
[461] From: [462] KT
Date: 17-Aug-00 - 02:22 PM
 
I think there is a direct correlation between one's addiction to MUDCAT and one's frustration level when one's computer crashes!!!!!!
ARRRGGGHHHH!! But, it's back! (And less expensive than last time!)
 
Yvonne, I'd be happy to share my verse to Puff. I hope Peter Yarrow doesn't mind.....
 
I wrote it after singing the song to a group of preschoolers....Their little faces dropped at the end of the song. I just couldn't leave it there, so the next day we sang it again. After Puff sadly slips into his cave, and we sing the refrain one more time to mull it over, then I ask "Is that the end?" And they all delight in saying "NO!" Then we sing the last verse, and they really belt it out!....
 
Many long years later, Puff was sleeping on the shore
He awakened to the laughter that he'd known so long before
There was Jackie Paper, now grown into a man
And he brought all of his children
To play with Puff again!
 
Happily ever after.........

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Trapper
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 10:49 AM

Here's a "last verse" I wrote about six years ago...

While playing with her father
On a day so magic-filled
She missed a catch he'd thrown to her
And her ball rolled down the hill
She found it by A DRAGON!
In a cave, down by the bay
She said, "My name's Jill Paper
And would you like to play?"

- Al

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 10:55 AM

Trapper, KT's final verse is a lot better than yours

Critics, eh?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From:
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 11:02 AM

Trapper, I think it's pretty good. I like it! Keep it up.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 11:06 AM

George, you're a nicer man than me - sorry if I sounded mean, Trapper - bad day...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: M.Ted
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 12:26 PM

What about the song "Puff the Kosher Dragon"?
I used to hear it on the Barry Reisman Show, back in Philly--it started out:

Puff, the Kosher Dragon
Lived in Palestine
He frolicked in the Synagogue
And drank Shapiro's wine

anyone remember the rest?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 01:46 PM

Definitely a better song without the happy ending, but the Jill Paper version is my favorite of the Next Generation endings... but I'd like to hear the rest of The Kosher Dragon, fur shurr~!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Melbert
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 03:20 PM

Puff the magic dragon, couldn't find a mate.
He frolicked in the Autumn mist accustomed to his fate.
The one day he found her, a lovely bit of stuff!
but he didn't know quite what to do......
That's why they calleed him puff!

Subject: Lyr Add: PUFF THE KOSHER DRAGON
From: M.Ted
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 03:38 PM

Found the lyrics! but I know nothing else--

PUFF THE KOSHER DRAGON

CHORUS:
Puff the kosher dragon lived in Palestine,
And frolicked in the synagogue and drank Israeli wine.
Little Rabbi Goldberg loved that kosher Puff,
And fed him lox and matzo balls and other kosher stuff.
Then one day it happened Puff was eating pork
So little Rabbi Goldberg took that dragon for a walk.
Gently he explained that dragons don't eat meat
That comes from little piggies who have dirty filthy feet.

CHORUS

Then Puff became Barmitzvah, laid tefillin every day
Wrapped up in his tallit, that's the way he used to pray.
Made brochot before eating, benched after every meal
Imagine how religious it made that dragon feel.

CHORUS

Now Puff the kosher dragon found himself a bride;
Now little kosher dragons are his source of joy and pride.
They'll grow up doing mitzvot, learning Torah, praying too
And little Rabbi Goldberg teaches them what they should do.

CHORUS

Oh, you who may be listening may think I'm making fun
But deep down in this story is a moral for everyone.
If Puff can wear kippah, keep Torah and kosher too,
Then you can learn like Puff did how to be a real Jew.

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From:
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 04:23 PM

Thanks for another nice one.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 05:13 PM

The parodies here are really great and I love them!!! As to the additional verses though............

Peter responded with a yuchh and I would agree...at least for me. Forgetting the marijuana theorists (and I try to), this song is about the loss of innocence, specifically childhood innocence, but as we go through life we realize more and more that, as Thomas Wolfe said, you can't go home again.

I guess that why it bothers me to add on a sweet ending, that the next generation will play with Puff, or whatever. It's okay if you like that sort of thing, but to me the song stands well alone and as it was. Yeah, it's become a bit of a joke and all, that's a shame...........It's a nice song about a something that's quite personal and most can relate to.

I must be getting crankier as the years pass I guess. A few months ago I heard a group doing "Yellow Rose of Texas" in the now usual upbeat style. I asked the lead singer afterwards why they did it that way ("Pretty much how everybody does it") and then if he had actually thought about the words or knew anything about the song's history ("No"). It's a ballad, almost a lament. We talked for awhile and though I'm sure they'll continue as is, the guy was at least interested.

I'll just go over and sit with the other curmudgeons now.................

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: M.Ted
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 05:45 PM

Did I mention that the melody that got attached to the poem in the typewriter turns out to be that wonderful old sentimental favorite, "My Mammy"? Maybe in another thread--

I have been known to start out with PFTMD and switch to "Mammy!"--and then quell the angry cries by pointing out that our image of a "Mammy" is actually an embodiment of the African Goddess of the River--for some I don't perform as much as I used to--

And I agree with you Spaw, there is an amazing tendency to take anything old and turn it into a up-tempo number, generally a march, though often enough, a Dixieland number -one can imagine that this will eventually happen to Puff- I can just imagine the way that it might sound, as played by the Lawrence Welk Orchestra (yes, they're still out there!) or perhaps even as an intro on the old Merv Griffin Show--

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 08:26 PM

'Spaw, maybe this version of Yellow Rose is lamentable enough for you? (it's by Allan Sherman)

Oh, I'm Melvin Rose of Texas
And my friends all call me Tex
When I lived in old New Mexico
They used to call me Mex
When I lived in old Kentucky
They called me Old Kentuck
I was born in old Shamokin
Which is why they call me Melvin.....Rose

Aloha,
Mark

(Explanation available for the culturally challenged)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 09:17 PM

A WINNER! And I thought I was pretty good on Allen Sherman stuff too! Never heard that one! Thanks Mark! And while we mention his name, again let me plug the late Mr. Sherman's fantastic book, The Rape of the A.P.E. Everyone needs to read this one and it holds a special place in American literature as having the world's shortest chapter (one word) and the longest footnote (runs about a chapter....25 pages or so).

Funny man.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: SINSULL
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 01:47 AM

Heard a rock version of the Sea Chantey "Mexico" playing in the supermarket today. I recognized the tune and the lyrics but it took me a while to place it. An abomination. I'll go sit with other curmudgeons now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: John P
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 08:17 AM

Warning: Really bad musical idea follows:

Did you know that you can sing the melody for Puff the Magic Dragon to the chords and bass part of Pachelbel's Cannon?

John Peekstok

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 09:02 AM

Hmmm, one of my favourite Classical pieces of music runied by that bl**dy dragon!

Subject: Lyr Add: FLUSH THE MAGIC TOILET
From: bill\sables
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 09:30 AM

Here is a parody written by an old friend of mine Ian Mills way back in the 60's

FLUSH THE MAGIC TOILET
(Ian Mills)

Flush was a magic toilet the finest in the land
With golden bells and cherubs all around his ornate pan
His pipes were made of silver his cistern was the same
And down came crystal waters when you pulled that golden chain



Flush the magic toilet lived by the sea
And flourished in the autumn mist in a land called Peterlee
Flush the magic toilet flowed into the sea
Polluting all the beaches for the folk like you and me



Little Suzie Snodgrass used Flush every day
She'd sit on him for hours just to pass the time away
She'd talk to him of wondrous things and marvelled at his wit
And she'd bring him tins of Harpic every time she had a sit



Little Suzie Snodgrass adored that magic loo
And Flush loved little Suzie with a passion deep and true
He'd sit there in his little hut and wait for her to come
And how his pipes would tremble at the touch of Suzie's bum



Flush lived in this little hut outside Suzie's door
And cold November's icy winds they made poor Suzie sore
With chilblains on her backside and frostbite in her hands
She got herself an indoor loo with a centrally heated pan



Flush was so broken hearted when he found he'd lost his friend
Took an overdose of Harpic and went clean round the bend
And then one chilly Winters night Flush it's sad to say
Climbed into his own sewerage pipe and flushed himself away

Note: Harpic is the name of a lavitory cleaner on sale in the UK
Chers Bill

Subject: Lyr Add: PUFF, THE HAPPY ENDING
From: GUEST,Betsy Wellings (bwellings.evisionsite.com)
Date: 22 Sep 02 - 12:10 AM

Well, this thread is probably pretty old. But this was what I was looking for. Nevertheless, as soon as I copied the new lyrics out, I changed Jackie's child to a girl. I am the 48 year old mother of a 4-year old, and believe me, sexism still runs RAMPANT in children's books, movies, videos, U-name it. (Today she politely explained to me that "Mans are in rock and roll bands, and one lady.")

Anyway, here goes, for those who will find it useful. (Another option is to make Jackie paper a girl in the first place, and have her child be a boy. The only lyrics you have to alter are the he/him pronouns and the line "A dragon lives forever, but not so little girls and boys...")

PUFF, THE HAPPY ENDING
(Modified from The Flying G Ranch Staff version.)

One fine day it happened. Puff woke from a dream.
He thought he heard a familiar voice and Jackie's laugh, it seemed.
He looked around his cavern, and over near the door
Stood a little girl with a piece of string and a smile he'd seen before.

"Hello, my name is Lisa, my dad told me your name.
He said I'd find you in the cave along the Cherry Lane."
Puff, the magic dragon, joyfully he smiled.
He'd never be alone again, for this was Jackie's little child.

OH....

Actually, now that I notice it, I like George Seto's last verse better than the above. And I am copying off the kosher dragon paraody for my Jewish, Puff-hating husband.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Leadfingers
Date: 22 Sep 02 - 11:56 AM

RAF mate of mine did a rewrite in Singapore round about the time Lee Kwan Yu had a clamp down on drug orientated music. BBC World Service had to change the sig tune of their Folk Music programme(It WAS Walk Right In) and poor old Puff was on the banned list. This is Dave Kendricks sex and violence version.

Puff the magic dragon didn't have a mate
Used to walk the streets at night, sometimes very late
Then one day he met her, she was bloody rough
He didn't know quite what to do that's why they called him puff

Dragons aren’t so common, magic ones are rare
And quite soon of offspring Puff's mistress did despair
But she was very cunning so everything she tried
Including Swedish picture books so's he would have a guide

Puff's not slow at learning what he does not know
And pretty soon with some success the dragon had a go
Then to that magic dragon came manhood with a rush
So now you know why little Jackie Paper got the push.

Circa 1970 if I remember right.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From:
Date: 23 Sep 02 - 12:06 AM

Betsy, that's not mine. It was KT's. Did you see Trapper's verse, immediately after KT's?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Genie
Date: 23 Sep 02 - 08:28 PM

Well, I like to sing the original lyrics, but to the tune of "Onward, Christian Soldiers," (which was composed, BTW, by Sir Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame). The lyrics and tunes to these two songs are perfectly matched for switching.

Genie

Subject: Lyr Add: Amber McInnis - Happy Ending for Puff
From:
Date: 29 Jul 03 - 09:18 AM

From Hunting of the Last Dragon

...

   During my years of teaching preschool, I got to share that dragon song with a new generation of dragon-fanatics. I love the two additional verses, added years later, that I'd learned from Amber McInnis' version on Music For Little People's "Family Folk Festival":

   "Jackie he got married, and they had a little babe.
   Jackie's daughter Sophie went adventuring one day.
   Happily she wandered down the misty beach alone.
   And passing by a hidden cave, she heard a muffled groan.
 

   Bravely Sophie slipped into the place where Puff did dwell.
   The startled dragon spun around and frightened her as well.
   Then she saw his lonely eyes, and quickly lost her fears.
   She kissed the dragon's scaly nose and wiped away his tears."

From Sentimental Tale Brings Out Old Fools

...

   But wait. I knew I'd heard a version of "Puff" with a happy ending somewhere. WFMT host Rich Warren helped me find it on "Family Folk Festival," a 1990 compilation CD.

   And despite the low esteem in which the hackneyed "Puff" is held by serious musicians, Warren has agreed to play the "Family Folk Festival" version, sung by 11-year-old Amber McInnis, Saturday on his "Midnight Special" program (from 9 p.m. to midnight, WFMT-FM 98.7):

Jackie he got married, and they had a little babe.
Jackie's daughter Sophie went adventuring one day.
Happily she wandered down the misty beach alone.
And passing by a hidden cave, she heard a muffled groan.
 
Bravely Sophie slipped into the place where Puff did dwell.
The startled dragon spun around and frightened her as well.
Then she saw his lonely eyes, and quickly lost her fears.
She kissed the dragon's scaly nose and wiped away his tears.
 

   The liner notes credit Yarrow with the lyrics, but Yarrow, through a spokesman, said Friday that the above is "not an official or sanctioned last verse." He said he's not bothered by the improvisation and that "literally hundreds of people have written their own last verses, and each last verse inevitably has inherent in it the desire for Puff to find another child to play with."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: jaze
Date: 29 Jul 03 - 08:42 PM

I agree with Spaw. The parodies are funny, but the song was of it's time, and right the way it is.

Subject: Lyr Add: PEPE THE LOVESTRUCK LOVE SKUNK
From: GUEST,Bill
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 09:52 PM

Here is one of my spinoffs-sung to the same tune:

PEPE THE LOVESTRUCK LOVE SKUNK

Chorus: Pepe the lovestruck love skunk lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.
A kitty named Penelope loved Pepe the Skunk
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.
(Chorus 2x)

Together they would travel in a boat with billowed sails
And Penelope kept a lookout perched on Pepe's stinky tail.
Canine kings and princes would hide whenever they came
Pirate ships would lower their flags when Pepe shouted out his name.
(Chorus 2x)

Fridays are usually happy and cheerful, but not this particular one.
A person means a lot to you when they're your favorite one.
One Friday it happened, Penelope went to a sleepover
And Pepe that lovestruck love skunk, he ceased his fearless stink.
His head was bent in sorrow, green tears fell like rain.
Pepe no longer went to play along the Cherry Lane.
Without his favorite friend, Pepe could not be brave,
So Pepe that lovestruck love skunk sadly slipped into his cave.
(Chorus 2x)

Cute song, huh?

Subject: Lyr Add: CHRIST THE MAGIC HEBREW (Glen Seeds)
From: Fred (Beetle) Bailey
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 03:57 PM

This parody, attributed to one Glen Seeds, showed up in a write-in column in Sing Out! during the mid-60's. (Primitive Mudcat?) Anyway, the more cynical of my buddies in a Vietnam Chinook battalion got plenty of laughs.

Christ, the Magic Hebrew
(Glen Seeds)

Christ, the magic Hebrew, lived by the sea,
A medieval Superman in the land of Galilee.
A fisherman named Peter loved that prophet Christ
And brought him pagans to convert and helped him stamp out vice.

Together they would travel, not a penny to their name,
But changing water into wine brought universal fame.
Noble princes hated them and tried for liquidation,
But that's OK; they can't decay; they have God's fluoridation.

But one grey day the charm broke down. It seems so strange to tell.
That God's almighty only son was a mortal after all.
He dropped his cross in the big parade. It was his final fall.
They nailed him to the top of it and shipped him off to hell.

The sky grew dark in anger and boulders fell like rain.
Lightning flashed, the mountains shook, and corpses walked again.
Without their lifelong friend, the 12 could not be brave.
They hid at home while Romans sealed him up inside a cave.

But SuperChrist rolled the stone away and went back to his friends.
He said farewell and took to wing. That's how the story ends.
He sits up there in splendor, while down on earth below,
All Christians fight over who is right and which to hell will go.

Love thy fellow neighbor, unless he's another kind.
Don't let people think too much. Protect their tender minds.
We know God's on our side, so let's kill the dirty Reds.
Forgive us our hypocrisies so we can get ahead.

Christians live forever, but heretics all die.
Lead a life that's free from sin or down in hell you'll fry.
Go to church each Sunday so everyone can see
That you're an upright citizen of the Great Society.

*
Yeah, it's rough, but consider the time and place!
And here we go again -- from Saigon to Baghdad!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 05:41 PM

I'd like to see a version where the dragon eats the kid. Isn't that the way it's supposed to happen?
I have a 14-yr-old stepson I'd be willing to offer as a dragonial sacrifice....
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 04:24 PM

Yay! I was looking for the "Happy Ending" lyrics, we sang them at a camp I worked at (just slightly different than the ones printed here but close enough!). Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon
From: GUEST,Whifi BarronBrae
Date: 21 Sep 07 - 11:38 AM

What a universal madness!
We sing Puff the original my chn have no problems with it and Jackie paper has got to be a boy surely- let;'s leave it well alone- chn are intelligent after all
And weren't we all children earlier?
thanks for all of the interesting input
Aotearoa-kiwi

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST,Seonaid
Date: 22 Jan 08 - 08:27 PM

Was listening to the radio recently and heard several "Puff the Happy Ending" variants phoned in by listeners. Couldn't write them down while driving, but mostly rememberd one of them. So all you purists, just turn around for a minute and I'll offer this to those who want to add to their collections:

   Years went by, til one day a Puff walked by the strand,
   What should he discover there but footprints in the sand.
   A little girl came running, saying, "Dragon, don't be sad --
   My name is Janie Paper; I was sent here by my Dad!"

Folk process, ya know.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST,Seonaid
Date: 22 Jan 08 - 08:28 PM

Sorry about the typo there -- should be
..."as Puff walked by the strand"...

Subject: Lyr Add: PUFF THE KOSHER DRAGON
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 10:54 AM

PUFF THE KOSHER DRAGON

CHORUS:
Puff the kosher dragon lived in Palestine,
He frolicked in the synagogue and drank Shapiro's wine.
Little Rabbi Goldberg loved that Kosher Puff,
And fed him lox and matzo balls and other kosher stuff.

CHORUS

Then Puff became Bar Mitzvah, put on Tefillin every day
Wrapped up in his Tallis, Oh! that's the way he prayed.
Made Brochos before eating, Benched after every meal
Imagine how religious it made that dragon feel.

CHORUS

Now Puff the kosher dragon found himself a bride
Now little kosher dragons are his source of joy and pride.
They'll grow up doing Mitzvos, learning Torah, Davening too
With Rabbi Goldberg teaching them what Kosher Dragons do.

CHORUS

There were some wicked people, who did things out of spite
They cursed jews and attacked them, just to get into a fight
when Puff The Dragon heard this, he roared his mighty roar
and now those wicked people, aren't with us anymore

CHORUS

Oh, you who may be listening may think I'm making fun
But deep down in this story is a moral for everyone.
If Puff can wear Kippah, keep Torah and Kosher too,
Then you can learn like Puff did how to be a real good Jew.

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 10:22 AM

The people who add another verse and keep the cycle going are in the right. It is the nature of magical creatures to be immortal, and it it the nature of nature to cycle.

In 'Peter Pan' we learn how Peter returned to the nursery generation after generation, having adventures with Wendy's daughter and then her granddaughter. Indeed, he seemed not to understand the differences.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 10:49 AM

there is an amazing tendency to take anything old and turn it into a up-tempo number

I had a frank exchange of views on another thread about that jolly old English thigh-slapper, Poverty Knock -
"Poverty, poverty knock!
Always one eye on the clock!
I know I can guttle when I hear my shuttle
Sing poverty, poverty knock!"
Yes, it's a song about back-breaking toil for starvation wages, but it's a folk song! Cheer up!

It is the nature of magical creatures to be immortal,

Lenny Lipton would agree ("Dragons live forever...")

and it it the nature of nature to cycle.

Eventually - but ageing and loss are universal experiences, and they're what this song is really about. A lot of our views of the song come back to the rather cheerful tune Peter Yarrow set it to - I wonder how different it would sound in a minor key.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST,Callie
Date: 04 Sep 09 - 12:41 AM

I heard this one at a Children's Show at the State Fair...before singing it, the man said, "Kids, look at your parents. Watch their eyes. Because when I sing this last verse, they will cry."

I felt embarrassed because I got teary-eyed...and I'm 21. Ha.

Puff the Magic Dragon
Walked on the strand
He looked down and then he saw
Footprints in the sand

A voice said, 'Mr. Dragon,
Please don't be so sad.
My name is Jenny Paper
And I was sent here by my dad.'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: Joe_F
Date: 04 Sep 09 - 06:11 PM

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: After that marvelously subversive line

    A dragon lives forever, but not so, little boys.

which equates growing up with death, any happy ending would be mawkish.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Sep 09 - 04:27 PM

Hmmmm, thinking out loud here...........

"A dragon lives forever... Without his lifelong friend, Puff could not be brave..."

So Puff is left to pine forever for his friend, the little boy who did not live forever.

From that perspective, it seems cruel to offer Puff more children to befriend, children who will not live forever and for whom he will eventually pine as well. Sorrow upon sorrow!!

If there's to be a happy "ending" for a dragon whose life never ends, I think it must have to do with his learning to be brave again even though his child-friend is gone. In other words, it needs to become a song about working through the mourning process and carrying on. It would have a more bittersweet ending than the Jackie's-children one, admittedly, but certainly a less saccharine one... and something that kids could remember when one of their friends moves away or passes away.

Sooooo, in this scenario, what happens to Puff to cause him to be brave enough to come out of his cave, regrow his scales, hold his head up and frolic in the autumn mist once again (and forever)??? Hmmmmmmmm....... let me see what I can come up with............... or, if anyone else has thoughts about this concept, bring 'em on!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Sep 09 - 05:44 PM

How 'bout this...... What if the pirates get word that Puff is no longer patrolling the seas with Jackie, raise their flags and return to invade Honah Lee? The noble kings and princes would be in danger (maybe they'd take refuge in Puff's cave?). Puff would need to gather his courage and drive off the pirates in Jackie's name (roaring Jackie's name instead of his own??). Puff would have to employ Jackie's string and sealing wax somehow to tie up the pirates, imprint the sealing wax with the giant's ring, and deliver the pirates to the noble kings and princes. Only then would the song leave Puff to frolic in the mist forever, in his boat-with-billowed-sail, now christened the Jackie Paper....

(I'm channeling the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation here -- a campaign started by young cancer patient Alexandra Scott, who has since passed away. Her vision of raising money to cure all children with cancer has been carried on in her name by her loved ones, with no signs of stopping 5 years onward.)

Now, it remains to convert this story to verse..........

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Sep 09 - 11:10 PM

I'm not sure I like this yet, but here's what I've got at present...


One day, the noble princes and kings came to his den.
They said, "The pirates have set sail for Honalee again!
"We know you miss dear Jack, but for his homeland we must fight."
So Puff fired up his courage and walked out into the light.

He roared at all those pirates, and it froze them in their tracks
For, though the mighty voice was Puff's, the name they heard was Jack's!
Puff sails the seas forever, protecting Honalee
On the good ship Jackie Paper, in his good friend's memory.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various ending
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Sep 09 - 11:21 PM

Maybe it's just me, but I think the Bush Administration gave "homeland" a bad name....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Sep 09 - 11:40 PM

LOL, Joe! A magic dragon as "homeland security" -- what a concept! *grin*

Unfortunately, I can't think of a better two-syllable word. "Country" and "nation" don't work any better. Jeez, I didn't mean to turn the song into "God Bless America" but, now that you mention it, my verse does seem headed in that direction.... Back to the drawing board?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 05:30 AM

For a few years now I've been singing my own final verse, without ever thinking of trying to seek out additional verses written by others. After reading the rest on this thread, which is admittedly several months old now, I still prefer my own verse (below)

Before I wrote my final verse, I used to sing it as I heard PPM perform it on a live recording, where they yell out "Present Tense!" and then repeat the chorus, LIVES by the sea... That was clearly their way of making it a happy ending... as if Puff got over it, and left his cave, so he still lives by the sea, and still frolics in the autumn mist...

But as SharonA mentioned above, I always felt it was a cruel ending for Puff to live alone forever in his cave, abandoned by his friend who grew up and stopped dreaming of him. I couldn't bear to keep telling the children (through the song) that they should grow up, like Jackie, and stop dreaming their childhood dreams, as if dreaming is reserved only for children.

As catspaw47 said above, "this song is about the loss of innocence" but do we really LOSE our innocence as we age, or do we just FORGET it? And as a song about losing innocence - sung to children - what should we teach them? What do they learn from the song?

The verses posted above about Jackie's child are cute, but I find them somewhat trite, and I dislike the reservation that only children are allowed to dream of Puff and play with him. I'm 31 and I still dream of dragons sometimes, and slip away to the magical lands of my imagination. I dislike that Jackie himself never returns to visit Puff in those verses: he only sends his child as an emissary. Why? Because he outgrew his imagination. And is that what we should teach our children through this song? Grow up and leave childish things behind... Bah! No! Of course there is a place for that, I mean we can't cling too tightly to naive innocent fantasies as adults, but adult life also still has a place for imagination and dreams.

Plus I considered that the adults in my audience were the ones who really paid attention to the lyrics, and thought about them. I don't think most of my child audiences really think about the song very much or what the story means - I certainly didn't until I was older - but it's my peer-aged friends who always ask me to sing it, and always listen to the words, and they even tend to praise me for remembering all the lyrics ... I think because I sing my own verse at the end, which they don't remember, because they only hear it from me, so they assume I remembered it (not that I wrote it myself) ... but I take it as a great compliment that my verse seems to fit that well that I have to tell them I wrote it myself.

Anyway, I wanted to remind the adults in my audience to keep dreaming too, so I wrote my added "happy ending" verse as follows...


I'll tell you a secret
If you listen close to me
In each every one of us
Is a bit of Jackie P.

He'll fly on dragons' wings
Forever 'til the end
And every day he laughs and sings
When he's with his best friend

Ohhhh

Puff the magic dragon
Still lives by the sea
And frolics in the Autumn mist
in a land called Honnilee

Puff the magic dragon
Still lives by the sea
And frolics in the Autumn mist
in a laaa-nnnd caaaaaaalled Hooon---niiii---leeeeee

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: oldhippie
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 09:11 PM

There's a version by the Brobdingnagian Bards that has a happy ending, however I don't have the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 06:52 AM

suggested ending

Children love adventure, games for bold and brave
Soon daniel drum and johny plum had found puff's magic cave
With coloured flags all waiving, they frolic by the shore
And children come from miles around to hear Puff's mighty roar

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various ending
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Oct 10 - 09:07 AM

Puff should befriend Superman. He also lives forever

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: Mo the caller
Date: 20 Oct 10 - 03:17 AM

Was the original written by an English writer brought up on A.A Milne's Winnie the Pooh? In the days that was written boys of a certain class had to leave the nursery behind and grow up and go to boarding school, as Christopher Robin does, leaving his bear and other toys waiting for him.
The end of the book and song have the same feel to them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: Mo the caller
Date: 20 Oct 10 - 06:01 AM

Thinking about it, who is really lamenting the loss of imagination and innocence? Not Christopher or Jackie. Hardly a stuffed bear or an imaginary dragon. It's the storytelling parent or the songwriter observer who laments both their own childhood and that of their children.
But the extra verse writers have it right. It all come round again with grandchildren. Christmas Day with toys being played with. Yipee.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: SINSULL
Date: 20 Oct 10 - 10:12 AM

I prefer the version where Puff gets high on LSD and attacks Tokyo. Raymond Burr is in there too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: Trapper
Date: 20 Oct 10 - 01:02 PM

When I was a kid, my family had a recording of "Drag, the Magic Puffin" - now that I think about it, it may be the first parody I ever heard!

- Trapper

DRAG THE MAGIC PUFFIN
by Marc Field (?)

There once was a puffin just the shape of a muffin
And he lived on an island in the deep blue sea
And he ate little fishes that were most delicious
And he had them for supper and he had them for tea.

Spoken: There was that magic little puffin, but the name of Drag

Now this little puffin, he couldn't play nothin'
For he hadn't anybody to play with at all
So he sat on his isle and he cried for awhile
And he felt very little and he felt very small.

Spoken: Poor Drag. His magic only made him live forever. There he was, all by himself. But one evening, when he went down to fish for his tea-time snack, his problems were solved.

These cute little fishes, they said "If you wishes
You may have us for playmates instead of for tea"
Now they all play together in all kinds of weather
And Drag the magic puffin eats pancakes
Like you and me.

YouTube recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv1vIgFVQYA

Subject: Lyr Add: DRAG THE MAGIC PUFFIN (Paddy Wex)
From: Trapper
Date: 20 Oct 10 - 01:25 PM

Here's another one I found, in my search for the original "Drag"...

- Trapper

DRAG THE MAGIC PUFFIN
Words: Paddy Wex (2009)

Drag the magic puffin wasn't just a bird;
He also was a vampire, though I know it sounds absurd.
He drank the blood of anything that seemed a trifle weak;
He'd yellow fangs three inches long concealed inside his beak.

A magic puffin's not the sort that you'll see every day;
Its orange beak and golden plumes will scare most folk away.
If you see the vampire type, it's pretty frightful luck;
It sinks its fangs into your neck, goes errrrrgh! and starts to suck.

Drag the magic puffin lived miles from the sea
And frolicked deep in forests dark and lonely cemeteries;
Little Jacky Viper loved that vampire, Drag,
And brought him mice and voles to eat inside a picnic bag.

Together they would travel in a souped-up V8 Hearse
Seven gears and overdrive and three more in reverse.
Jacky did the driving; for miles and miles each night
Till Drag would say "I'm hungry, lad, so let's stop for a bite."

Just in case you're wondering, it simply isn't true
That, asked if he liked children, Drag the Puffin said, "I do,
But I couldn't manage a whole one." His answer to the question
Was actually, "No. You see, they give me indigestion."

How do puffins turn to vampires? In the case of Drag -
He chatted up a cormorant, expecting just a shag.
He didn't know she drank the blood of any foolish bloke
Who thought that for a fish or two she'd let him have a poke.

He offered her a haddock, saying "Darling, you have this."
"How sweet!" she answered with a sigh, "Now you deserve a kiss!"
Drag closed his eyes and pursed his beak, expecting just a peck;
The next thing that he knew, she'd plunged her fangs into his neck.

He felt his lifeblood draining as she almost sucked him dry,
And then she laughed and said with relish, "Now you'll never die.
You'll sleep by day, grow fangs and through the night remain awake
Till Buffy comes to find you with a mallet and a stake."

"What's your plan, Drag," Jacky asked, "if Buffy comes for you?"
"She's pretty fit," was Drag's reply, "So this is what I'll do:
I'll lie in wait, then bare my fangs; my muscles I will flex
And study every move she makes through magic x-ray specs!"

One grey night it happened: Jacky Viper came no more,
So Drag went out and found him dead; their friendship was no more.
He took him to a taxidermist but hope for Jack was past
So fondly Drag did have him stuffed and mounted under glass.

His head was bent and twisted, the stuffing all fell out,
Till putrefaction staled the air and drove the neighbours out.
Without his lifelong friend, Drag could not be brave,
So Drag that magic puffin sadly slipped into his grave.

Drag the magic puffin lived miles from the sea
And frolicked deep in forests dark and lonely cemeteries;
Little Jacky Viper loved that vampire, Drag,
And brought him mice and voles to eat inside a picnic bag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3dA5jSxQ-c&feature=youtube_gdata

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 21 Oct 10 - 07:13 AM

The "Drag" offered by Trapper is very funny indeed.

The times they have a-changed once more. A happy ending for the Puff song nowadays would be as follows: The dragon undergoes a therapy against his preference for little boys. He finds a dragoness of suitable age and religion, and they live happily ever after, and when they see a little boy, they hurry past him.

For the Jewish Puff, I suggest the following heroic ending: A famine comes over the land, so Puff offers himself to be slaughtered to feed God's People. The Rabbi finds a clever solution to the problems of claws and chud etc., so Puff ends his life under the shochet's knife. Finally, he has become "Puff the kosher dragon".

Unfortunately, I am not a poet. It's your turn, gifted 'catters!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST,stargazer
Date: 25 May 11 - 12:06 AM

There was a version on an album I had as a kid entitled "On Top Of Spaghetti. It too had Jackie's son returning. Wish I could find the lyrics to that version...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 May 11 - 12:24 AM

Hi, Stargazer -
We have some happy endings in this thread (click), but I don't see a son right off. There's a daughter, though...

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST,JR
Date: 06 Mar 12 - 09:24 PM

I sing this song at camp, and my song leader ends with this verse:

One bright shiny morning, as Puff walked down the strand,
a little girl came up to him and said, "Here, take my hand.
Hey, now Mr. Dragon, don't you look so sad.
My name is Jenny Paper. I was sent here by my dad."

My song leader says he saw Peter, Paul, and Mary sing this verse in a concert, but people got angry, saying it contracted from the meaning, so they didn't do it anymore.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST,Sean
Date: 24 Mar 12 - 11:48 PM

I had heard the "walking down the strand" one years before, but could never recall it. I've used this instead- but remembered the basic sense of the others posted above:

One day ole Puff was walking
Along that lonesome shore
When he saw a set of footprints he
Had not seen there before.
A voice came from behind him,
-said, "Puff, sir, don't be sad.
My name is Jenny Paper.
I was sent here by my dad."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Jul 13 - 04:06 AM

There's a time to make fun of all this, too: (click)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: GUEST,Flash MacTavish
Date: 10 Sep 13 - 04:53 PM

This version was popular in the RCAF.

Christ the magic hebrew lived by the sea,
and taught us social protest in a land called Galleli,
born a tax-deduction,
with a star above his head,
Christ the king of all the jews,
had horseshit for a bed.

Christ went to a party, everything was fine,
when the host ran out of beer,
Christ changed water into wine,
the Palestine liquor control board,
thought this was mighty nice,
changing water into wine, without a change in price.

Christ walked on the water far from the docks,
Peter tried, and Peter died,
He could not find the rocks.

There was a Roman soldier, I think his name was Mike,
He said, Christ won't you cross your legs,
I only have one spike.

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Puff the Magic Dragon (various endings)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Dec 21 - 09:23 PM

Here's my alternate ending to "Puff": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkl_Tf9J77k&t=1140s